Thursday, June 5th, 2025
The Bible is such a unique multi-faceted book on every topic imaginable, some of which we probably won’t even get to in our lifetimes. Even when we read some of the stories that we have heard numerous times before we catch a new phrase or word that adds a whole new layer of intrigue. Perhaps it’s our current circumstances that draw our attention to a specific aspect that we had previously glossed over. That happened for me recently while reading about the walls of Jericho.
We like the part where the Israelites march around the city for seven days, give a healthy shout of praise and then the walls fall down. It sounds like the easiest defeat in the Bible. But what exactly happened to the inhabitants of Jericho? Did they fall with the wall? Let’s look at Joshua 6:20-21:
20 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
Imagine the physical and emotional toll it took to destroy every living thing with the sword. Yes, the wall came down without much effort, but that was just the first part of the battle. Do we have any Jericho walls in our own lives that have come down and we thought that was the end of the battle? Is God waiting for another level of obedience before we can walk in complete victory?
Aside from destroying all living things they also had to gather all the silver, gold, bronze and iron for the Lord’s temple, retrieve Rahab and her family and then burn the entire city. Imagine searching for all the things they were instructed to keep and then ensuring that everything else was burned. I’m not sure how long that took, but it was not a suddenly. It took time and effort. If they hadn’t been willing to obey all these steps, they would not have defeated Jericho.
Final Thoughts…
Maybe it’s just me, but lately it feels like I’m learning experientially that there are many paths in life God puts us on that require us to work hard, battle hard and pray hard. Yes, God is the miracle worker and He does amazing things that we could never do and many things that we will not even know until we get to heaven. But He often has a part for us to play as well. Walls coming down are not the end of the story; we still have to eradicate the enemy that dwells behind those walls. Jesus died for our healing and deliverance, but we must defend our right to walk in healing and deliverance. Jesus came for us to have abundant life, but we must ensure we don’t allow the enemy an open door to steal that life.